Wagner - Parsifal

[austin]

There are no reviews here..
http://tinyurl.com/6nxmaer

Does anyone here have a preferred recording, please?

Paul

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Knapertsbusch's 1950s Bayreuth recording on Naxos is a glorious performance. I have the NAXOS reissue which is very good and not expensive; but it is Mono sound (and there is a bit of "wow" at one point in the last Act).

Karajan's recording is another favourite of mine - one of his very best performances in superb sound.

Avoid Levine's Bayreuth recording: it drags cumbersomely. (Don't know his DG recording with Domingo and Norman - can't be any worse!)

[Beef Oven]

Knapertsbusch's 1950s Bayreuth recording on Naxos is a glorious performance. I have the NAXOS reissue which is very good and not expensive; but it is Mono sound (and there is a bit of "wow" at one point in the last Act).

Karajan's recording is another favourite of mine - one of his very best performances in superb sound.

Avoid Levine's Bayreuth recording: it drags cumbersomely. (Don't know his DG recording with Domingo and Norman - can't be any worse!)

Karajan is a great place to start. I would also recommend Kna's Live 1962 Bayreuth Performance (mine's on Phillips). I find Levine's DG recording with PD a bit to 'smooth'.

Here's a link to Kna's '62 on Phillips

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/...6604/?search=1

Here's a link to Karajan on DG

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page...nther+Hermanns.

[umslopogaas]

Well ... for what its worth, and havent we been here before (?), my memory is getting ever more vague ... the several recordings by Knappertsbusch are classic, but Karajan and the BPO are/were available on CD and are definitive: DG 413 347-2 is the CD number for my copy, though I can give LP details for those interested in these things.

Details of the two Knappertsbusch LP recordings I own are available on request.

fhg, which Knappertsbusch recording from Bayreuth in the 1950s is the one you prefer? It seems he recorded it several times.

A friend of mine who knows more about this kind of thing than me once said that Knapperstbusch would have been a very fine conductor, if only he could be woken up.

[ostuni]

Kubelik, on Arts (1980) & Barenboim (Teldec, 1990) are the best of the more modern bunch; Barenboim's Gurnemanz is the dull Hölle, who rather spoils it for me. But his Kundry is the wonderful Waltraud Meier (though Kubelik's Yvonne Minton is almost as good). No Kundry outdoes Knappertsbusch's Mödl, on the 1951 set, which is much less sleepy than his 62 stereo one.

3 recordings have appeared in the last 3 years or so: Gergiev, van Zweden, and Janowski. All 3 have excellent sound, and mixed casting.

[Petrushka]

There are a bewildering number of Knappertsbusch/Bayreuth recordings of Parsifal out there and when I mentioned this in a precious Parsifal thread someone kindly listed them all - though I believe another has been added to the lists since then! I'm pretty sure that FHG is referring to the 1951 recording.

You simply must have one Knappertsbusch recording for the real Bayreuth experience. I have the 1962 set, slightly marred by audience noise maybe, bit at least it's in stereo with a wonderful cast. If you want a studio recording in great sound I would choose either Karajan or Solti. You won't go wrong with either.

[Parry1912]

I see that in the 2009 PG Thielemann's was the top recommendation ahead of Karajan, Barenboim and both the Kna recordings. Has anyone heard it?

Incidentally (and I'm almost afraid to mention it ) I see that Goodall's EMI recording can be had very reasonably. Is it any good?

[DracoM]

Don't ignore Solti. Whatever you think of his Ring / know of his reputation etc etc, his Parsifal is utterly, but utterly different.

Kollo is a very fine Parsifal, his Act 3 particularly - spiritually bleached and exhausted then rising to a quiet nobility , Frick as Gurnemanz is a genuine old man sounding like an old man but with true heft and charisma, Fischer-Dieskau as an angry, impassioned Amfortas, VPO in fine fettle, Vienna Boys Choir for the stratosphere.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm pretty sure that FHG is referring to the 1951 recording.

(The '62 Kna has a young Gundula Janowitz - - making her recording debut as one of the Flower Maidens.)

[umslopogaas]

Oh no! I now have to play through not one ancient recording of 'Parsifal', but several. And I've got a pile of Brahms, Beethoven, JSB and Bartok screaming for attention. Do you people know how long 'Parsifal' is? It takes until next tax demand just to get to the end of the Prelude, and you havent even met Gurnemanz yet ... and he does go on a bit.

But the entry into the castle of the Grail at the climax of Act I is just magic. If you dont know it, pour a very large drink, put it on the CD player and relax, this is real music.